1800 Life is a drama short film written and directed by Maanavi Bedi and stars Divyendu Sharma in the lead role. The film has a runtime of 25 minutes.
– 1800 Life review does not contain spoilers –
Divyendu Sharma’s 1800 Life is mostly a discussion between Vishal and some woman on the phone. Sure, it uses the first few minutes of its 25 minutes to show us how he has given up on life and is now wallowing in self-pity. The short, of course, is about the impact of technology in our lives and how we are all in a horrible rat race that is slowly sucking the life out of us.
However, in just 25 minutes, the movie is quite boring at first. Vishal has this conversation with this “woman” who seems like she knows everything. It’s creepy to be in this situation, true, but Vishal, for no good reason, keeps on talking to this random person for no good reason. Of course, one can argue that he doesn’t want to go through with what he was originally going to and is simply stalling.
Either way, though, it doesn’t feel that genuine because it seems a bit unbelievable. I would’ve chucked the phone away if a ghost-like lady started talking to me randomly about my fluffy cat and what I did in high school. Moreover, thanks to the constant discussion and nothing else, it feels like a PSA on mental health.
The reasoning behind it all is a bit too far-fetched and futuristic although, at this point, not improbable. The short delivers a cheeky message that will make you think, just like how Vishal is left baffled when he connects the dots, but won’t leave a lasting impression. The only reason, personally, is that the conversation isn’t interesting enough to make you wonder what’s going on. You can figure out early on that something is going on that is definitely not supernatural and the “technology knows everything” fad is, after a certain point, expected and kind of boring.
Summing up: 1800 Life
1800 Life would’ve been better, probably, as a feature-length movie since the story seems very rushed. I liked the cheeky ending but the path to it feels a bit stretched out and at 25 minutes, that’s not a good look. Divyendu Sharma, is, as usual, pretty good but I can’t say the same about the CGI.
1800 Life is streaming on Amazon Mini TV.